Green With Skepticism
The invaluable Denis Dutton--he's the American-born New Zealand academic who created Arts & Letters Daily--has an interesting review of Robert Kirkman's new Skeptical Environmentalism in the underappreciated Wilson Quarterly. Writes Dutton:
Skeptical Environmentalism confirms a long-standing suspicion of mine: No special philosophical principles undergird environmentalism beyond (1) the general biophilic and humanist idea that we should care for living things, particularly if they are sentient and can feel pain; and (2) the principle that we ought to leave to our descendants a world that makes lives of fulfillment and pleasure possible. Not all good ideas are grand abstractions.
